Pen-based interface for a notepad computer

ABSTRACT

A notepad computer with a page display region displaying a page of a document on which a user can write using a pen or stylus type writing tool is provided. Associated with the page is an interface that can be used with the pen. The interface includes a core task tool region adjacent to the page where tool icons are partially visible until the pen is brought near one of the icons. The tool icon becomes fully visible when the pen is within the region of the icon. The tool when activated can pop-up a radial pop-up menu located at an edge of the document where all the menu choices are located in a semi-circle away from the edge so that the users hand while holding the pen and making a selection does not block the choices. A page flipping tool is located in a corner of the page and is an explicit two-stroke menu allowing selection of a next or previous page. A page scrolling tool is located along an edge of the page, the scrolling tool when activated is an implicit button allowing scrolling in one implied direction. The interface also includes a stack region adjacent to said page display region having one or more stack icons each representing a stack of documents. The icon is also an explicit two-stroke radial pop-up menu having forward and backward choices for selecting documents in the stack and a stack document list display displaying a list of documents in the stack when the stack icon is touched by an input pen. The interface also includes a typing tool overlaying a portion of the page and including a writing zone where a user handwrites strokes and, a page zone comprising part of the page where typed text corresponding to the handwritten strokes is displayed as the handwriting occurs.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of prior U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/011,713, filed Dec. 11, 2001, which is a divisional of prior U.S.application Ser. No. 09/196,100 filed Nov. 20, 1998 (now U.S. Pat. No.6,337,698), the contents of both of which are incorporated herein byreference as to their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to a notepad or notebook computerinterface that facilitates input via a pen and, more particularly, to asystem that provides interface elements particularly suitable forpen-based input to, and interaction with, electronic documents.

2. Description of the Related Art

Making electronic information as handy as paper requires an interactionmodel which is somewhat different than conventional systems. Documents,the primary form in which people obtain and produce information, aremost familiar and manipulatable in the form of paper pages. What isneeded is a notepad or notebook computer based system that allows theeasy manipulation of document pages. Marking on documents directly, witha pen, provides the most leverage of human motor skills for adding toand interacting with documents. What is needed is a pen based method ofmarking on and interacting with documents within a notepad or notebookcomputer.

Organizing information for recall is best done according to one's ownexperience and mental associations, i.e. “when, where I saw it last”,and “what I think it's related to.” What is needed is a system that willorganize documents according to the user's experience and mental model.

Such a device and its software needs to: render in pages, favoring aportrait aspect ratio and dedicating as much of the screen as possibleto displaying the page; support tasks via transitional user interface(U/I) elements which may appear inside or outside or overlapping withthe page, and which are controlled directly with the tip of the actualpen (there is no other representation of the pen's location) taking intoaccount the users left or right-handedness, with appearance andbehaviors that are both obvious and unobtrusive, easy-to learn andefficient; and support the layering of ink and transitional U/I elementsover the content in ways that minimize obstruction of the content andinclude presentation of such transitional elements in a way whichexploits the viewer's ability to resolve overlapping and translucentimages. Additionally, the system must support text entry via the pen,but not let the conversion of pen input to text impede the perceivednatural flow of events.

A notebook computer should behave and allow interaction with it in amanner similar to interaction with a paper notebook. Likewise, a notepadcomputer should behave and allow interaction with it in a manner similarto interaction with a paper notepad. For example, when flipping pages ofpaper the user can separate a corner of the page from a stack to make iteasier to flip. The position of the user within a stack of pages of apaper is readily visible via looking at the edge of the stack. A paperuser can change pens (inks) with the simple motion of picking up anotherpen. What is needed is an interface that provides such functions simplyand intuitively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide user interfaceelements along a side of the page that allow the behavior of the systemto be changed in a pop-up mode and that do not obscure the page.

It is another object of the present invention to provide input menupallets that consider the relation of the user's hand to the page, tothe corresponding side edge of the display, and to limited numbers andtypes of selections.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a page regionspecifically designated for flipping the pages, but to otherwise allowthe user to mark pages directly for input.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide both anability to convert handwriting to text after the writing, and a writingregion adjacent to which converted text characters appear on the pageduring the writing, in specific relation to the writing region.

It is an additional object of the present invention to allow documentsto be stacked and manipulated with a simple unambiguous organizationalmetaphor.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system whereboth the location and orientation of the pen act to determine itsfunction.

The above objects can be attained by a system that includes a pagedisplay region displaying a page of a document on which a user can writeusing a pen or stylus type writing tool. The page occupies substantiallyall of the display region. Associated with the page is an interface thatcan be used with the pen. The interface includes a core task tool regionadjacent to the page where tool icons are partially visible until thepen is brought near one of the icons, at which time it becomes fullyvisible. The icons can pop-up radial marking menus located near an edgeof the document where all the menu choices are located in a semi-circleaway from the edge, so that the user's hand, while holding the pen andmaking a selection, does not block the choices. A page flipping tool islocated in a corner of the page and is a two-stroke radial markingpop-up menu limiting the menu choices to opposite directions of penmovement and allowing selection of a next or previous page. A pagescrolling tool can optimally be located along each edge of the page andallows scrolling in each appropriate direction. The interface alsoincludes a stack region adjacent to the page display region having oneor more stack icons each representing a stack of documents. Each stackicon is also a two-stroke radial pop-up marking menu having forward andbackward choices for selecting documents in the stack. The interfacealso includes a typing tool which can overlay a portion of the page andincludes a writing zone where a user handwrites text, and an adjacentpage zone which is part of the page where typed text corresponding tothe handwritten strokes is displayed as the handwriting occurs.

These together with other objects and advantages which will besubsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a display with a “paper” display area and toolregion.

FIG. 2 depicts a selection process.

FIG. 3 shows an activated Select icon.

FIG. 4 depicts highlighted text.

FIG. 5 depicts writing.

FIG. 6 illustrates core task tools fully visible.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate core task tools partially hidden.

FIG. 8 depicts preferred core task tool icons.

FIG. 9 illustrates a process of the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows a palette, radial marking, pop-up menu.

FIG. 11 illustrates a marking menu associated with a right-handed user.

FIG. 12 illustrates a marking menu associated with a left-handed user.

FIG. 13 illustrates a two-stroke marking menu.

FIG. 14 shows a page flipping tool, a page scrolling tool and stacktools.

FIG. 15 depicts page flipping animation.

FIG. 16 illustrates a page flipping process.

FIG. 17 depicts a highlighted dog-ear.

FIG. 18 shows the page flipping tool activated.

FIG. 19 shows the page flipping tool without the optional scrollingshadow.

FIG. 20 shows the page flipping menu.

FIG. 21 depicts a menu selection.

FIG. 22 shows a flipped page.

FIG. 23 shows the scroll shadow highlighted.

FIG. 24 shows page scrolling.

FIG. 25 depicts a page selection menu.

FIG. 26 shows a last page of a document.

FIG. 27 shows two way scrolling shadows.

FIG. 28 depicts stacks.

FIG. 29 illustrates a stack process.

FIG. 30 shows a highlighted stack tool.

FIG. 31 depicts the stack two stroke menu.

FIG. 32 illustrates a menu selection.

FIG. 33 depicts a stack index listing.

FIG. 34 shows a typing tool.

FIG. 35 shows text entry at the end of a text line.

FIG. 36 shows text entry in the middle of a text line.

FIG. 37 shows the typing tool moved to edit a different line of text.

FIG. 38 shows a non-horizontal typing tool.

FIG. 39 illustrates control buttons.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is directed to interface elements of a pen based,notepad or notebook computer, the hardware of which is described indetail in the related application previously mentioned. The notebook ornotepad computer includes a liquid crystal display 10, as depicted inFIG. 1, with a display area 12 of a size and shape approximating a pieceof paper. The border 14 of a writing surface or the “paper” 15 isslightly inset from one or more edges of the display area 12, so thatthere is a display region 16 around the edge of the paper where tools orstatus indicators can be partially or fully displayed.

An important attribute of an interface to a pen-based system, such as inthe present invention, is the combination of spatial and gestural cuesby which it deduces how the input should be processed. In the presentinvention, pen samples are, by default, used to write (see 33—FIG. 5) onthe “paper” page 15, and optionally used to select elements of the page,enter text, or select core task tools along the edge of the page. Thepresent invention uses three types of cues to dependably switch betweenmodes.

In a first mode switch, as depicted by the process 20 in FIG. 2, aselection can be started implicitly by pen location, whenever the pen isheld near a displayed element which is known or set by the system tosupport selection. In a second mode switch, a selection can be startedimplicitly by rotating the pen to a selection orientation, such aswhenever the pen is pointed towards the bottom of the page. In a thirdmode switch, a selection can be started explicitly by tapping a selecticon (see FIG. 3), then stopped only by tapping the select icon while inselect mode, in which case any current selection is released.

As depicted in FIG. 2, when a pen is detected 21 the orientation of thepen is determined 22. If the orientation is not the selectionorientation, the system determines 23 whether the pen is over or withina predetermined threshold distance or region of an object. An object isany information or interface element which represents a process. Whenover an object in this condition, the system starts 29 a tool process asdepicted in FIG. 9. When not in the region of the object 24, the writeprocess is started 26.

When the pen is detected in the selection orientation, the systemindicates 30 the select mode by highlighting the select icon (see FIG.3). If the pen is moved out of proximity to the object 31, the wait forthe pen detection starts again. When the pen comes down in the selectmode, the object nearest the pen is highlighted 32. Highlighting changesthe appearance of the displayed information or interface element so thatit stands out, as if highlighted by a yellow or other colored marker.One of the objects can be selected 33 by a tap or a stroke. A selectionassociates a highlighted information element with an action to besubsequently performed. If the pen comes down on the object or elementwith a tap, the system selects 34 the object. If a stroke occurs, theadditional objects designated by the stroke are highlighted 35. When thepen is raised, the system recognizes that a selection has occurred andselects 34 all highlighted objects.

The system then looks for the pen again while it has a selection andagain determines 38 the orientation of the pen. If not in the selectionorientation, the system determines 45 whether the pen has been put downon the display or pulled away. If on a selection 41, the drag/dropprocess is activated 42 otherwise the selection is released 43.Activation starts a process represented by displayed information or aninterface element.

When the pen arrives in the selection orientation, the selection mode isindicated and the system awaits a movement 45 of the pen down to thedisplay or away from the display.

When the pen comes down but not on the existing selection 46, the systemstarts 47 the additional selection. If on an existing selection, thesystem shrinks 48, the existing selection.

While the pen is held near the display in the orientation noted above instep 30, the appearance of a select icon 50 (see discussion below) ismodified to indicate the selection mode as shown in FIG. 3. Upon pendown as in step 32 in the selection orientation, “highlighter ink” orhighlighting 52 appears as shown in FIG. 4. When the pen is returned tothe writing orientation and pen touches down outside the selected area,the selection is released and writing 54 (see FIG. 5), orlocation-implicit selection, ensues.

In the first selection mode mentioned above, when the pen approaches thedisplay over an element which is set for and the system knows to have aspecial response to input events, and which is called an object, theinput events are passed to that object, such as a writing tool. When thepen touches down and subsequently moves beyond a distance threshold ofthe object before coming up, the mode is switched back to writing andsubsequent events are no longer passed to the object.

When events are passed to objects, the objects will determine whichbehavior is to occur.

In cases where the objects are “pen-aware”, they may respond to theapproaching pen by highlighting, and respond to pen down and pen strokesby activating other pen-related processes, such as recognition, and upona stroke may suppress or “undo” some or all of the subsequent writing(which continues unless suppressed).

One set of such objects is, for convenience, called the core task tools(see FIG. 6). These core task tools are easily recognizable by using anicon that a user will recognize as related to the task. As an example,FIG. 6 illustrates a writing tool with an icon graphically showing a cup62 of writing instruments. FIG. 6 shows the tools completely visible.Normally when the pen is not in the vicinity of the tools the tools arepartially obscured behind the edge 14 of the paper 15 and partiallyvisible in the tool region 16 as shown in FIG. 7A. The core task toolsare constantly provided, presented or available to the user by beingalways visible in the tool region 16 while minimizing disruption of theuser's focus on the content of the “paper” page 15. The availability ofall core task tools is dependable because they are always visible andalways located in the same place. The core task tools share spaceeffectively with the content, by appearing partially hidden by or behindthe content until approached by the pen (in the air above the screen),at which time they come fully into view, and after the pen leaves, thetools return to the partially-hidden appearance. Preferably, the coretask tools are selected directly from the tip of the pen (withoutappearance of a cursor). That is, the location of the pen tip over anicon will select the tool. The tools, as depicted in FIG. 7B, furtheroptimize the sharing of screen space with content through combined useof minimally sized, irregular shapes that avoid obscuring the underlyingcontent as much as possible; transparency within their overlying shapesto preserve an impression of the underlying content; and fading betweenthe full and partially-hidden appearances, which both removes thesuddenness experienced by the user in transitions, and reinforces therelationship between the full and partially-hidden appearances.

The preferred embodiment of the core task tools is a set 68 of core taskicons and related pop-ups which are also unique in their appearance andin the functions they represent. As depicted in FIG. 8, the toolspreferably include: 1. Write (70) which when activated offers pen tipsand a color palette; 2. Type (72) which toggles to show/hide atypewriter ribbon which displays character recognition results of theink on the current page; 3. Select (74) toggles to/from select mode, andprovides the user with cut, copy and paste functions; 4. New (76) whichpresents a new page for use by the user which icon is a “dog-eared” pageand allows the user to select from among lined, blank, quadrupled, etc.types of “paper” pages; 5. Flag (78) which allows users to add markersand links, add the current document to stacks, choose whether to keep astatic/local or updated/remote link; 6. Find (80) which allows the userto find an object in the current page, document, stack, or book; and 7.Send (82) which allows the user to send mail, fax, print, etc.Additional core task tools not shown in FIG. 8 include 8. Dog-ear(236—FIG. 17) superimposed on the corner of the page and shows/hides apage index and allows the user to flip to previous and next pages; and8. Stacks (300—FIG. 28) each of which toggles to show/hide an indexcard, and offers back and forward flipping among documents.

The process 100 associated with the core task tool display, as shown inmore detail in FIG. 9, involves obtaining the pen location from thedigitizer grid control process of the computer and determining 104whether the pen is within a predetermined threshold distance of or inthe region 16. Note that this includes the pen being in the air abovethe display and not touching the display. When the pen over the tool isdetected, the raising or bringing forward of the tool needs to start ifit has not. If the tool raising has not started 106, a determination 108is made as to whether the pen has been pulled away or down outside theproximity of the tool. If the pen is still up and over the tool 110, theraising of the tool starts 112 resulting in a display as in FIG. 6. Ifthe raising of the tool has already started, a determination is made 114as to whether the pen has been put down on the display or pulled away.If pulled away, the tool fading starts 116 resulting in a sequence asshown in FIG. 7B then FIG. 7A. When the pen is put down on the tool, thetool is highlighted 118. While the tool is highlighted a determination120 is made as to whether the pen has been pulled up or away. When thepen is pulled up the tool (or the process associated with the tool icon)is started 122.

One of the types of tools available in the interface is commonly calleda radial marking, popup menu. In such a menu the selection of the menuitem is governed by the direction of a stroke across the displaygenerally from a starting point in a vicinity where the icon is located.U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,667 (incorporated by reference herein) describes howsuch menus are used to make such stroke based selections. FIG. 10depicts an example of other such menus as in the present invention, andparticularly shows the color palette selection radial marking menu 130which allows the user to select from among five ink colors 132, 134,136, 138 and 140. This menu 130 is shown near a right hand side of thedisplay 10 but could be located near the left, top or bottom or otherpositions within the page as well. After the menu 130 is activated byone of the techniques discussed above, if a stroke by the input pen ismade in a direction as indicated by the stroke line 142, the color 138is selected. Such radial menus as in the present invention are laid outaccording to the handedness of the user, and may be positioned near theedge of the display region, corresponding to the handedness particularlyat the edge 14 of the paper 15, as shown in FIG. 10. Their layout andposition for visibility in relation to the hand is such that the user'shand does not block the user's view of the selections as depicted inFIGS. 11 and 12. In particular, the items in a radial menu such as thepalette, according to the invention, are positioned, according to theinvention for visibility in relation to the hand, and radially foracceleration via pen strokes, in a semicircular arrangement which incombination with cursor-less, direct use of the pen, fully maximizes theuser's ability to discover and use gestures. Choices are displayedradially from the location where the pen tip first touches down,typically in a quantity of five or less such that each has an easilydistinguishable compass direction, and each is plainly visible while apen and hand are interacting with the menu. There are at least twolayouts for each radical menu, one a roughly western hemisphere, theother a roughly southeastern hemisphere, in order to support left andright-handed use. The user may manually choose one layout or the other,as well as finer adjustments thereto; the system may change the layoutautomatically when it detects a different handedness in the penmovements and their orientations.

FIG. 11 shows a menu 160 located on a right hand side of the display 10such that the hand 162 of a right-handed person does not obscure thechoice selections when in several different selection orientations fromwhich a stroke can be started. In particular all of the selections forma semi-circle with the curve protruding into the “page” 15 displayed.FIG. 12 shows a similar menu 170 positioned on a left hand side of thedisplay 10 such that the hand does not obscure the selections. Acomparison of FIGS. 11 and 12 shows that the hand of a left handed,western writing person is generally in a different position than that ofa right handed person and, as a result, the semi-circle of the menu 170may be somewhat compressed and oriented downward toward a corner of thedisplay.

The display of the right-handed or left-handed versions of the menu canbe controlled by a prior selection of the user by setting a preferenceor by determining the orientation of the pen in the user's hand duringwriting when the pen is in a normal orientation for the user. Thetwo-stroke menus discussed herein can also be oriented for left andright handed people and the orientation would be determined in the sameway.

With the menu items oriented in a semi-circle as in the menu 170 andradially, and the making of selections via pen strokes with acursor-less, direct use of the pen, the user's ability to discover anduse gestures to make the selections is maximized. Such radial markingmenu items, none of which is obscured by the pen or the hand, aredisplayed radially from the location where the pen tip first touchesdown, with a preferred maximum quantity of five selections, eachchoosable with a single stroke whose path is indicated graphically. Whenthis type of menu is used as in the present invention, there is nocursor; the pen tip is the sole representative of position and items onthe screen are preferably highlighted when the pen passes over them toindicate their availability for selection.

Another of radial marking pop-up menu in the present invention is atwo-stoke menu 180, an example of which is depicted in FIG. 13 locatedalong a bottom edge of the display 10. This two-stroke menu 180 providesthe same radial access to choices, but the choices are constrained toonly two choices 182 and 184 which are opposite in both function andposition, so that if one of the choices is obscured by the pen, the usercan still (implicitly) know of the opposite choice and correctlyanticipate the hidden choice's behavior.

Selection is limited to the two choices, such that a stroke of any kindon one side of a center 186, will select the choice for that side.Although these menu items 180 are shown along the bottom of the display,they can be located along the sides or top or anywhere on the page.

The icons for both the palette and two-stroke type radial menus canexhibit alternative behaviors when the pen leaves the display surfacewithout selecting a menu item, including but not limited to: togglingthe system in/out of a mode (such as selection); and toggling toshow/hide an alternative pop-up (other than the menu) for related, morepermanently-displayed functions, such as dialogues.

Human visual perception of objects, and of relationships betweenobjects, is wholly dependent on how light reflects and/or emanates from(radiates from or passes through) those objects. In the real world, theshadow is a uniquely valuable clue as to the relationship between a pairof objects, because it is not a property of either object alone but oftheir combination. The human visual system recognizes shadows asindicating 1) space between two objects, and 2) a foreground/backgroundrelationship. Like the real-world windows after which they are named,the objects in computer graphical user interfaces have been givenborders, even to excess, in order to separate them from theirsurroundings. Shadows offer a fundamentally clearer approach. One reasonis that a shadow changes the appearance of the object on which it iscast, but does not replace it. A shadow is a dark, weakly saturatedcolor that is blended with the background object and has the shape ofthe foreground object. Thus, the computer system must deal with theprocess of blending. Techniques for blending the background object withthe shadow cast on it are well known, including alpha-blending within apixel (in which the value an object alone would give a pixel is simplyaveraged with the value the shadow alone would give it), and dithering(in which alternate pixels are taken from alternate sources and the eyedoes the averaging, although at lower resolution). However, to design auser interface around shadows is to assume the computer to have one ormore of these blending capabilities. The present invention includingshadow outlines makes that assumption. The fundamentals of a shadowoutline are that it 1) exist entirely outside a foreground object, 2)modifies, even degrades, the image of a background object in order tosupport the notions of space between, and foreground-backgroundrelationship between, the two objects. The degradation of the image ofthe background object is preferably proportional to its proximity to theforeground object. Thus, far from the foreground object the shadow isfaint, near the foreground object the shadow is dominant. There are manytechniques by which the shadows can be algorithmically created; the useof any such algorithms to separate graphical user interface elements ofa computer system fall within the scope of the present invention.

Scrolling is the predominant means of moving through electronic contenttoday. But with a display sized and shaped for holding a page, and withenough resolution to include what people expect in a page of paper,flipping through content as discrete pages becomes important. Theinvention includes two interface tools: the dog-ear and the stack, whichare designed to facilitate the use of the system like pages of paperrelatively loosely arranged on in a bundle such as in a note book orstack. The two-stroke type tool, as depicted in FIG. 13, is used toleverage the natural metaphor of flipping pages. Animation of turningpages is used to reinforce this. A scrolling tool is also provided whichallows multidirectional scrolling.

The function of the dog-ear, a page flipping tool, is simply to let theuser flip to the next or previous page (screen full) within the currentdocument, and to next and previous documents in a stack if a predominantsequence exists. An associated page number menu can be used to jump toany other page in the current document.

The function of a stack is to facilitate moving forward and back in asequence, typically another sequence, of documents. The sequence can bea browsing history, an alphabetical index, or any other useful list.Given this function for stacks, being able to “organize” documents bydropping them onto one or more stacks, at once captures themanipulability of shuffling paper and extends it by offering multiplesets and sequences, while avoiding the containership of metaphors suchas files and folders. Both a dog-ear 200 and two stacks 202 and 204 aredepicted in FIG. 14. This figure also illustrates an optional toolcalled a scroll shadow 206 which when activated causes the page toscroll to reveal what is beyond the shadow. The dog ear 200 indicatesthat the current page being displayed is page four of a total of sevenpages. As noted above, animation is used to present the impression offlipping a page when the dog ear is activated. During such an animationsequence for a single page flip, at different stages approximately tenimages of the page being turned are displayed, with the same imagesbeing used for a forward or backward flip but in an opposite sequence.FIG. 15 shows an image 210 approximately one-half of the way through apage flip animation sequence. As can be seen, the front side 212 and theback side 214 of the page are both shown. A shadow region 216 under thepage being flipped, as well as a partial view of the page 218underneath, are shown to enhance the perception of a page flipping.

The process 230 performed associated with the flipping of pages usingthe dog-ear and scroll shadow tools, as well as other tools, is shown inFIG. 16. The first operation is to render 232 the current page contentsand then render 234 the dog-ear 236 and scroll shadow 238, asillustrated in FIG. 17.

When a pen event is detected 240, several different actions can be takendepending on the type of event. If the pen approaches the dog ear 236,the back side 242 of the dog-ear 236 is highlighted 244 as well as theshadow 246 on the next page as shown in FIG. 18. FIG. 18 depicts thehighlighted dog-ear 236 when the optional scroll shadow 238 is presentwhile FIG. 19 shows the highlighted dog-ear 238 without the scrollshadow being present. As shown in FIG. 18, only the dog-ear 236 ishighlighted. The highlighting of the dog-ear 238 indicates to the userthat the dog-ear 236 can be activated.

If the pen is then brought down 248 on the dog-ear 236, a two-strokemenu 250 for selecting the next page 252 or the previous page 254 istypically displayed, as depicted in FIG. 18. This menu is displayedunless the pen leaves the surface before the menu is displayed andwithout making a new choice in which case the page number menu isdisplayed instead.

The system then awaits 256 (FIG. 16) a motion by the pen. If the penmoves toward or on the “next” menu selection 252, this selection ishighlighted 258, as shown in FIG. 21.

FIG. 21 particularly shows a “glow” type highlight 258. A glow highlightis a highlight in a color such as gold that seems to make the icon glow.It is used here as a “surround” for a selected item, it can also be usedto outline an item, such as in FIG. 32 and can suffuse a item such as ascroll shadow as shown in FIG. 23. When the shadow function discussedabove is applied using not a dark, weakly saturated color, but a bright,highly saturated color, it creates a specific and different impressionon the eye: that of a foreground object which is “energized” and appearsto cast a glow on the background object. Transitioning the outline of anobject from shadow to glow provides a representation of that object'snew readiness to take action when anticipating selection by the pointingdevice.

When the pen is brought up in this glow selection situation, the systemchanges 260 the displayed page to the next page, showing the page numberas shown in FIG. 22 where the page has gone from page one (FIG. 17) topage two (FIG. 22). If the pen is moved on or over the previous menuselection 254 (see FIG. 20), it is correspondingly highlighted and whenthe pen is brought up in this situation, the previous page is displayed264 along with its page number.

If the document is longer than one page, or if the page is larger thanthe display, one or more scroll shadows appear when the pen event(240—FIG. 16) is a movement approaching the scroll shadow, the entirescroll shadow 238 is highlighted 266, as shown in FIG. 23. Note that thedog-ear 236 is not highlighted. When the pen is brought down over ascroll shadow at the bottom edge 239 of the page, this causes 268 ascroll up to reveal what is below. When the pen is on the upper edge ofthe page, it scrolls down to reveal what is above. If the document islonger than one page then additional parts of the current page come intoview. If the page is the same size as the display, the current page 270and the next page 272 can come into view as shown in FIG. 24. Todistinguish the boundary between the two pages the page numbers areshown along with a page break. A dog-ear flip to the next page in thecircumstances of FIG. 24 will result in a “snap” to one of the pagesbeing displayed.

When the pen touches the dog-ear (256—FIG. 16) and the pen is raised 274without moving while on the dog-ear 236, a page number menu 276 showinga range of pages of the document is displayed, as illustrated in FIG.25. The pen can be used to select one of the page numbers. When a penevent occurs 277, if a page number is selected, the page and page numberare changed 278 to the selected page. FIG. 26 depicts a selection ofpage seven from the menu of FIG. 25. Also note that since this is thelast page, there is no page beneath the dog-ear, 280 and the scrollshadow at the bottom of the page is not being displayed.

The scroll shadow can appear on two or more edges at the same time, asillustrated in FIG. 27. The side scroll shadows 282 scrolls the documentsideways (left and right) while the top and bottom scroll shadows 284scroll the document vertically (up and down). A side scroll shadow 282appears when the document is wider than the page display, such as when aspreadsheet is displayed or a page is magnified in a zoom condition.

As previously mentioned, the function of a stack is to facilitate movingforward and backward in a sequence of documents. The sequence can be abrowsing history, an alphabetical index, or any other useful list. Giventhis function for stacks, being able to “organize” documents by droppingthem onto one or more stacks, at once captures the manipulability offlipping through paper and extends it by offering multiple sets andsequences, while avoiding the containership metaphors, such as files andfolders. A collection of documents is put in a sequence, given a name,and represented as a stack. FIG. 28 depicts four stacks placed in thestack tool area 298 located, preferentially, at the bottom of thedisplay 10 in the tool region 16. The stacks shown include stacks fornotes 300, topics 302, history 304 and in-box 306.

The process 310 of operating with stacks is shown in FIG. 29. A stackcan be created by the system software based on a system request 312,such as when several e-mail messages are received in an in-box. The usercan drag 314 a current page into an empty portion of the stack area andrelease it. In both the system request and the user drag cases, a stackis created 316 in the stack area 298. After a stack has been created,the system or the user can request 318 the addition of a document to thestack and the document is added 320.

In general stacks respond to the pen in essentially the same manner asthe dog-ear. Upon a pen event 322 (FIG. 29), if the pen is used to drag324 a document to a stack, it is added 320. If the pen is brought 326near a stack 306 it is brought to the foreground as shown in FIG. 30 andexpanded over the edge 327 of the page 15 highlighting the stack. If thepen event is the touching 328 of a stack, a two-stroke menu 330 appears.Upon a pen move 332 which is on or toward one of the two menu choices,the choice is highlighted (334/336) as shown in FIG. 32 by thehighlighting of the backwards menu choice 338. When the pen is releasedover the menu choice, the page flips in an animated sequence, aspreviously discussed, and the next document in the stack is shown(340/342—FIG. 29) where the previous one was. If the pen is raised whileover the stack, (or the stack is tapped and released without a stroke),an index card 344 (see FIG. 33) is displayed 344. This card 344 providesa list of documents in the stack with the current document highlighted.When the pen is released 346 over one of the listed documents, thedisplay flips to the selected document in an animated sequence and thechosen document is shown as the main page. If there are more documentsin the stack than can be shown on the card, scroll shadows appear at thebottom and/or top of the card 344.

Another tool provided by the present invention is called, forconvenience, a typing tool or typing ribbon 360 as depicted in FIG. 31.The ribbon preferably includes several types of zones: A set of writingzones 362 where the user writes strokes that are to be converted intotyped characters. The writing zones are 362 large enough (height andwidth) to support natural western writing. A set of special characterzones 364 where the user can select special characters for entry intothe typed text, such as tab and enter. A typed text region of the page,366 where the typed characters of the written text appear as the user iswriting. This zone 366 is part of the displayed page and edits a line onthe page. That is, the handwritten text in zone 362 appears on the pagein zone 366. A cursor 368 is also displayed and indicates where the nextcharacter handwritten in zone 362 or selected from zone 364 will appearin zone 366.

The writing zone 362 runs “horizontally” underneath the text line in thezone 366 which it is editing Oust like a typewriter ribbon). Handwrittenstrokes written on the ribbon in the zone 362 are sent to a conventionalhandwriting recognition system, with output of the recognizer targeted,in real-time, at the cursor location (or a selection to be replaced) onthe text line above the ribbon which line is located within the page ofthe document being displayed. FIG. 35 illustrates the preferential sizeof the ribbon 360 as spanning the entire width of a displayed page 370.This figure also shows writing at the end of a typed text line. Thecursor 368 can be moved across the line by dragging it with the pen topoint to text that needs to be edited or corrected as illustrated inFIG. 36. When a different line of text is to be edited, the pen can beused to drag the ribbon 360 up/down to the desired text, as illustratedin FIG. 37.

The ribbon 360 can also be rotated to a diagonal orientation, as shownin FIG. 38, (to associate with a diagonal line of text) by similarlyrotating the pen while dragging the ribbon. In addition to more closelyassociating with diagonal text, this helps the recognizer by telling itmore precisely which way is up.

We have recognized that the sequencing of experience is fundamentallyimportant in human-computer interaction. The world wide web offers suchcomplexity in navigation that effective browsing would be nearlyimpossible without a back button. By the sequence of experience, we meanwhat the user perceives to have happened recently, to be happening now,and to be expected in the future, presented and best thought of asstepping with the option of viewing before stepping. It is perhaps bestthought of as a combination of viewing and stepping.

The sequencing of experience has been supported in fragments scatteredthroughout the prior art of computer-human interaction. The listincludes Dialog boxes, with their myriad variations on OK and Cancel;the Edit menu with its Undo and Redo items; Graphical User Interfaceswith their various scroll bars; and myriad viewing and stepping optionsusing the keyboard's enter and escape, home and end, arrow and pagekeys, function keys, and modifier-based shortcuts.

The present invention, as depicted in FIG. 39, includes an arrangementof buttons (button tools 380), and a relationship between them and thedisplay of a handheld computer system, which optimizes the system tosupport the sequencing of experience.

Two pairs of buttons 384/386 and 382/388 are arranged vertically alongone of the side edges, where the display is most naturally held forreading, in close proximity to the display (within 10 mm) to supporton-screen labeling. The buttons are sized, shaped and recessed so as tobe easy to find and depress intentionally (specifically, with a thumbedge while holding it, and with a thumb tip or fingertip while it restson a surface), and unlikely to be depressed accidentally while handlingfor other reasons (specifically, with a palm while carrying it or withthe heel of a hand while writing on it). The visually dominant pair ofbuttons 384/386 is designed to convey that they are paired, opposite infunction, and up and down in direction, without the use of words oricons which could conflict with on-screen labels. The function of thecentral pair 384/386 is to support viewing, and in particular, viewingpages and viewing where to step, and the myriad semantic variationsthereof. The secondary pair of buttons 382/388 is designed to conveythat they are also paired and opposite in function. The function of thesecondary pair 382/388 is to support stepping forward (i.e. follow alink, confirm a dialog) and back (i.e. undo a mistake, cancel a dialog),and the myriad semantic variations thereof. The secondary pair 382/388is preferably spaced close enough to the visually dominant pair for auser holding the system to access them by only rotating the thumb awayfrom either button of the visually dominant pair (specifically, withouthaving to adjust the location of the fingers), while far enough away anddifferent enough in shape to be quickly and easily distinguished bythumb feel. The display area nearest the buttons may be optionally usedfor labels 392, 394 and 396 for the buttons An additional button mayoptionally be placed adjacent to the four buttons and the display, forsimilarly ergonomic control of audio input functions, includingrecording, conferencing, and recognition.

These button tools 380, can be provided either in the form of physicalbuttons mounted along the side or bottom of the display, or touch-screenbuttons that appear in the tool region alongside or below the displayedpage. If physical buttons 382, 384, 386 and 388 are implemented (seeFIG. 39) they should be both finger-and-pen-friendly, recessed in atrough and dimpled. Associated “soft” labels 392, 394 and 396 arepositioned in an edge of the screen of the display. The preferredbuttons include a button 382 for causing an action to occur (Go, Ok, doit . . . ), buttons 384 and 396 for viewing (i.e., flipping pages) and abutton for reversing an action (go back, cancel).

The present invention has been described with respect to user interfaceelements as separate from and either in front of or behind, theinformation concurrently displayed by the system.

The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from thedetailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claimsto cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fallwithin the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, sincenumerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilledin the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exactconstruction and operation illustrated and described, and accordinglyall suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, fallingwithin the scope of the invention.

1. A display, comprising: an image information display region having adisplayed edge; and a radial pop-up menu located at the edge of theregion, having menu choices in a semi-circle toward the region, whereinthe radial pop-up menu is displayed in either a first orientation or asecond different orientation based on an orientation of a pen relativeto the display.
 2. A display as recited in claim 1, wherein when theedge is a left edge, the semicircle is tilted downward avoidingobstruction by a hand positioned for left-handed writing.
 3. A display,comprising: an information display region; and a radial pop-up menulocated in the region, having menu choices in a semi-circle away from anorientation of a user's hand, wherein the orientation of the user's handis determined by a user's pen orientation.
 4. A display as recited inclaim 3, wherein when the user is left handed, the semicircle is tilteddownward.
 5. A display, comprising: a radial pop-up menu located havingmenu choices in a semi-circle, wherein the radial pop-up menu isdisplayed in either a first manner or a second different manner based onan orientation of a pen relative to the display.
 6. The display of claim5, wherein the first manner is a first orientation and the second manneris a second different orientation.
 7. The display of claim 5, whereinthe radial pop-up menu has only two menu choices, and wherein the firstmanner and the second manner differ from each other in a position of thetwo menu choices relative to each other.
 8. The display of claim 7,wherein the two menu choices consist of a first menu choice and a secondmenu choice, and wherein the first menu choice is selected by a penstroke in a first direction and the second menu choice is selected by apen stroke in a second opposite direction.